Closer highlights for Jan. 4

Foreclosure

PrivateBank & Trust sued to collect nearly $1.6 million on a year-old four-story condominium building at 2620 N. Halsted St. in Lincoln Park. The four-unit building, which includes a 7,500-square-foot first-floor commercial space, was constructed by venture that includes Sophie and Boguslaw Bailkowski of Chicago. Lawyer Forest Miles, who represents the venture, said he expects to fight the foreclosure, saying the bank refused to approve a deal to sell one of the residential units. The bank has refused to give the venture additional time on the loan even though the market is picking up, adds Mr. Miles, a partner in Chicago-based law firm McCarthy Duffy LLP. A spokeswoman for the Chicago-based bank declines to comment.

Sale

A venture of Schererville, Ind.-based Krygier Cos. paid $2.5 million for a former Office Depot store at 17510 S. Halsted St. in south suburban Homewood with a deal to bring a Buffalo Wild Wings to the location. The restaurant is to open this spring and occupy about 6,500 square feet, while the remainder of the space, about 12,500 square feet, is being marketed for use by multiple tenants. Krygier, which acquired the property from an arm of Oak Brook-based Inland Real Estate Group of Cos., owns Buffalo Wild Wings franchises in Indiana and Illinois, according to the SouthtownStar newspaper.

Mortgage

The cooperative that owns a 28-story vintage apartment tower in Kenwood borrowed $3 million from Harris Bank as part of a plan to convert the building into condominiums. Built in the late 1920s, the 98-unit high-rise at 5000 S. East End Ave. was the tallest building on Chicago's South Side until the mid-1960s and may be best known as the former home of mayoral candidate and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. The co-op, Five Thousand East End Avenue Building Corp., will use proceeds from the Harris loan to pay off existing debt, which includes a $2-million mortgage with NCB, a Washington, D.C.-based bank that specializes in lending to co-ops, property records show. A call to the building's management office was not returned.

Construction

Nicholas & Associates Inc. is moving ahead with plans for a three-building, 17,900-square-foot retail development at 2020 E. Northwest Highway in Arlington Heights. Construction is expected to start in March on the first phase of the project, a fast-food restaurant, according to BidClerk.com. Village documents published last year identified Culver's as a likely tenant, but a spokesman for Prairie du Sac, Wis.-based Culver Franchising System Inc. says no agreement has been reached for that location. Nick Papanicholas Jr. of Mount Prospect-based Nicholas & Associated did not return a call requesting comment.